Gerd Gleixner receives Thuringian Research Award

Gerd Gleixner, research group leader at Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, receives the Thuringian Research Award in the field of fundamental research. In his project “Biodiversity protects the climate”, the scientist showed the importance of soil microorganisms in connection with climate protection: when species richness is abundant, the soil is increasingly able to store carbon and nitrogen. Ecosystems with high biodiversity are much more resistant against perturbations such as drought and pests.

The Thuringian Research Award is granted every year since 1995 in the fields of fundamental and applied sciences with an overall prize money of 50,000 euros. This year‘s laureates all come from Jena, from the Institute of Human Genetics of the Friedrich Schiller University, from Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, and from Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology (IPHT) which obtains the award for applied research.
The official award ceremony will be on March 14, 2016 in Jena.